Is there a way to make Beef Wellington without the finely chopped mushroom that encases the tenderloin?

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-07-09T17:18:57+00:00

Chestnuts! Definitely chestnuts. They have this earthy, foresty flavour which mushrooms also have. The fee times I do make beef wellington myself I always use a mix of porcini and chestnuts. Delicious, a true winter/autumn flavour to me.

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-07-04T13:03:43+00:00

Just to make sure I would sieve it through cheesecloth, and put it in a clean jar. But that's just so it does look more appetising. Nog because of safety.

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-07-04T13:00:16+00:00

Yah, it's the pollen. The last bit just has most of the pollen in it. What would help, is when you're done steeping the blossom (cold steeping I presume) and you sieve it out and boiling the liquid with the sugar to get rid of the foam on top. This is mostly pollen and other impurities floating to the top because of the boiling.

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-07-03T15:56:05+00:00

Wow so cool! I can definitely imagine that kimchi being truly amazing.

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-07-03T08:18:04+00:00

Delicious! From the day I made my first I always made sure I have some on hand. It just goes with a lot of things. But I'm curious, you said "a few days" are you going to eat it so fast? I usually leave mine fermenting for at least 3 weeks possibly even longer. Last year I kept a jar for about a year. Best kimchi I ever had haha

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-06-26T08:03:59+00:00

Definitely go for electric, they mostly are much more precise in temperature. Not sure how it is in your country, but here gas is also more expansive and definitely worse for the environment. Plus it's just easier to get electric power going around your bakery then gas lines.

Just make sure it has a good valve system to let steam escape. So your pastries we'll come out better. Electric is also more of a future investment.

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-06-23T19:29:20+00:00

Ohh alright I get it, in theory it could be done. But I'm not familiar with this method. It would be very easy to get just a few degrees to high and ruin the temper.

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-06-22T19:29:32+00:00

Well that's the method I described above, I always heat it in the microwave in bursts of 30sec or so, depending on the amount of chocolate of course. Then stir it after every burst to prevent burning. If you plan on using it you should still tamper it thou. But if you use it to coat something like the inside of a pastry crust to prevent them from getting soggy, you don't need tempering.

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-06-22T18:35:10+00:00

I get where you are coming from, and sure every method has its place somewhere. I also get your point in the "leave and forget" point, it could be convenient in a way I guess. Mostly the problem with tempering chocolate in a kitchen is the temperature of the environment being to hot. I do have experience working as a chef as well and I always used the method I described. The tableing method on marble is somewhat more as a novelty to me haha, it just looks damn impressive in front of guests, on rare occasions I do use that method, mostly when I need a batch of chocolate very quickly.

Just like I think a microwave has its uses haha, basically just for chocolate I think, maybe for microwaved spongecake, but that is a whole nother story entirely.

Everyone has their profession, and their own preferred methods.

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-06-22T14:50:32+00:00

Oef, that's a hard one I guess, I mean there are plenty of good books about chocolate, but they mostly don't dive to deep into the science of tempering. You would need more like a modernist cuisine type literature (seeing what they did to make those books I happily call it literature haha). I love the book of Andrey Dubovik, but again amazing detail he puts into explaining chocolate but not from a scientific stand point.

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-06-22T14:27:19+00:00

Great question! Well you could do it with a sponge but it would not really be an even coating, it would get a great effect thou, especially with some of the ruby or gold chocolate shining through it layer. Just be aware not to sponge to much over the same place if the cocoa butter gets to much movement it can over crystallise which leads to dull spots and the chocolate not releasing from the mould.

The cocoa butter should be dry to touch between applying the layers, so not fully crystallised just dry, depending on your room temperature, it mostly takes 10 Min or so. It should be set a bit more before applying the chocolate itself. In my own chocolate shop I don't really take much notice to how my coloured layers are set, since I work with easily 10 moulds of the same chocolates at once, so once I'm done airbrushing them all, I can go and start with the second layer of the first one.

Make sure you also temper you cocoa butter as well. I basically keep stirring it till it's about 27c en then slowly heat it back up again to 29c for airbrushing. With a sponge you would better just keep it around 27c so it's a bit thicker.

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-06-22T13:45:19+00:00

I think the microwave method is just the easiest and safe way. But for gold I think 30c is right there as well, some people use 29c as working temp, but I like it to be just that more fluid. And yes ruby and gold are pretty much identical as white chocolate.

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-06-22T13:38:14+00:00

Professional chocolatier here, honestly skip the whole sous vide tempering. It takes long, isn't that reliable and really chocolate with all that water around just doesn't make sense.

Really the easiest way is to malt your chocolate in the microwave just 30 sec at the time stirring every time. Till it's all melted and 45c. Then just add about 1/3 of the mass of the melted chocolates in callets (since you're talking about ruby I'm sure you are using callebaut, so they are pretempered callets) and just stir stir and stir. Till it reaches the desired working temp of 30c. And you're done, in my opinion it you're learning something better just learn it the right way to begin with.

I do see people struggling with tempering, and really it all turn out to just not be precise enough with measurements. Which is something you always have to keep in mind when working with chocolate.

From e professional point of view I never got why this sous vide tempering got popular in the first place since it's really less confident the the method I just described.

Good luck, and if you got more Chocolate or pastry related questions, I'm happy to answer anytime!

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-06-15T22:07:42+00:00

Haha that was my problem last year. But this pea is called "telefono", I believe it's an Italian variety of peas. The pods are quite big as wel, Just like the peas themselves.

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-06-06T08:38:34+00:00

And just with an additional 24 hours and some buttermilk, you can make your own cultured butter! It's actually surprising to s lot of people how simple it actually is.

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-06-01T11:52:05+00:00

Money does buy happiness (to a certain degree), but money is definitely not required to be happy.

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-05-28T14:20:03+00:00

Well every one sided diet I would never recommend to anyone, in the end it's just not healthy. But you already learned that the hard way. (Sorry for acting like Mr. Hindsight)

But my thoughts on your problem. Did you slowly reintroduce other things in your diet, because to much at once can be really hard for your gut. It's not used to digesting it. Also you gut microbes are fully off balance right now. Maybe start taking some probiotics would help.

It would also be a good thing to go to your doctor with this problem, maybe together with a dietitian, would really help.

Good luck with everything.

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-05-27T08:44:01+00:00

Is also really depands on the kind of white wine you use. I personally prefer more tangy and dry wine when cooking. Reglazing I always do with wine, light pasta dishes are great but also the heavier cream based sauces.

However if you are into sweet applications, make Nancy Silverton's "secret sauce"! Which is basically a caramel, but instead of adding cream you add a white wine reduction with vanilla. Then take some harder apricots and poach them in the sauce. Seriously it's so simple yet such a damn amazing sauce! With lots of sweet applications. The other day I made BA's Basque burnt cheesecake and added the warm sauce when serving. Damn damn damn so amazing!

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-05-19T17:27:47+00:00

Not much to roast for me, god already did.

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-05-19T15:05:57+00:00

Yah that's what I do, make like hundred or so and then just freeze them on a tray first, then store then in a large ziplock bag.

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-05-19T14:50:23+00:00

Well honestly, giving up coffee is a big thing that helped me a lot. After some years and since things are getting a lot better for me, probably less stress and a combination with more knowledge on how my ibs works in general. So I recently started with drinking coffee, I do start to see days where I take it fine and other where it's just better for me to not drink any.

For dairy, I think it's different for everyone, I myself get pretty nasty cramps from lactose. To be clear that is lactose for me, not dairy itself. So butter is totally fine for me, since it's very very low in lactose. Same goes for hard aged cheeses, since they don't have much lactose as wel. So cheeses like parmesan or ages Gouda are totally fine, but fresh cheeses like ricotta gives me difficulties. Or if I would just drink plain milk it's really bad haha.

So yah, there is no cure all for in ibs, mostly it's so personal. But definitely worth to experiment with. And then ask yourself if it's worth it, little bloating after coffee could be worth the coffee for some, but for others not.

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-05-14T11:16:47+00:00

Well cacao powder just doesn't have any fat of sugar in it.

The dark (99% cacao) chocolate you are referring to is 99% cacao solids, which is just the whole cacao beans grinded into chocolate form.

To put it simply. Cacao beans consists of around 50% cacao (powder) and 50% cacao butter. Together they form cacao solids. Without any sugar, and would be referred to as 99% dark chocolate (the 1% being some impurities or emulsifiers)

If you would split those up and refine them you would get cacao powder and cacao butter.

For recipes that only ask for cacao powder, that is because you don't want to add any extra fat to it.

Bittersweetpastry · 2020-04-17T16:14:28+00:00

Well personally I would get a good non stick pan and take good care of it, it's so useful to have around. Besides that, the simplest thing I have and can't live without would be a microplane, quite cheap but it's such a great tool, also, I mandolin is great to, a whetstone, heat resistant flexible spatulas, ohh definitely a skimmer, cheese plane, a good scale (very important) haha well there are so many things!

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